Swinging crair



y 1934- v R. B. SMITH 1,957,004

swINGINe CHAIR Filed April 29, 1951 INVENTOR ROBERT BIGHAM SM ITH wmwvATTORNEY Patented May 1, 1934 I resist SWKNGING CHAIR Robert BighamSmith, Macon,

Application April 29, 1931, Serial No. 533,656

6 filaiins.

The invention relates in general to a folding or tiltable chair or seatof general application wherever such articles are adapted for use. Theinvention particularly relates to a seat or chair designed for use asthe front tiltable seat of an automotive vehicle or in any similarsituations where it is desirable to provide a form of folding seat whichcan be moved quickly into an outofhe way position leaving an unobstructaclearance for entrance or egress from the vehicle or past the rear sideof the tilted seat.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a. simplified form offolding seat which wi re secured in its normal position. againstaccidental folding or turning; which will be positively secured in suchposition and locked securely in position.

Another object of the invention is to provide form of securing latchwhich will be self ope 'ating to hold the seat in its normal positionautomatically as an incident of moving the seat into such position, andto provide a form of latch conrol for releasing the same which will besimple in construction and operation, which will be convenientlyaccessible along one of the exposed edges of the seat and which will bedisposed so as to be unobtrusive and preferably concealed either by thechair itself or by the adjacent portion of the car structure.

Various other objects and advantages of the invention will be in partobvious from an inspection of the accompanying drawing and in part willbe more fully set forth in the following particular description of oneform of mechanism embodying the invention, and the invention alsoconsists in certain new and novel features of construction andcombination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the accompanying drawing:

Fig. 1 is a view in side elevation of a preferred embodiment of theinvention shown in full lines in its normal, righted position and shownlocked in such position, and in dotted lines shown in its tiltedposition released from its locked position;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged showing of the lower portion of the seat shown inFig. 1 showing the position of the parts as the latch is about to engageits keeper; and

Fig. 3 is a view in end elevation of the latch and associated partsshown in the preceding figures and with parts broken away to showdetails of construction.

In the drawing and referring first to the showing in Fig. 1, there isdisclosed a floor or other suitable support on which is positioned achair as the structure shown is contype The chair is supported at itsfront edge on a hinge mounting 14 about which the chair as whole niavmal nos 11 as shown in full lines in l swung forwardly as shown indotted on following conventional practices in this There is alsoillustrated a coiled spring which teds normally to either swing chairabout the pivotal mounting wha. rel-eased f latch heeinafter describedor which will tend to assist in lifting and. swinging the chair into itsforward, inoperative position.

seat 12 is provided adjacent its rear 1 a foot 15 which engages thesupport if). 501 the purpose of holding th chair in its normal positionand against the turi .g action of the sprin 15, there is provided alatch l? piv oted on fulcrum pin l8 mounted in bracket secured to theframe as of the chair and positioned to one side of seat 12. The latchhas its lower end beveled as shown at 21 which hereled end is designedto project downwardly recess or opening 22 formed in the support or doorboard 10. The lower end of the latch is of the conventional shoulderedconstruction with the shoulder 22 designed to engage under a keeper 23secured to the upper side of the support 10. The latch is maintained inengagement with its keeper by a coiled spring 24, one end of which issecured to the latch and the other end see red to an anchor 25 fastenedto the underside of the seat.

The upper end of the latch is formed into a handle 26 disposed below thelevel of the seat as shown in Fig. 1, and to one side thereof as shownin Fig. 3, and designed so as to be conveniently accessible either tothe occupant of the seat so that the latch may be unlocked as theoccupant leaves the seat, or in the case of the device being used on anautomobile, the latch and particularly its handle is preferably sodisposed as to be readily operated by a person standing outside of thecar and reaching through the open door to the latch handle. In operationit will be understood that with the parts shown in the positionillustrated in lull lines in Fig. 1, it is simply necessary to swing thelatch into position against the action of the spring 24 to permit thelatch to escape its keeper after which the rear end of the seat, or theback, may be lifted or pushed forwardly assisted in those cases wherethe turning spring 15 is utilized. As the chair is swung from the dottedline back into its normal position, the pointed end of the latch willslide down past the keeper as shown in Fig. 2, thus placing spring 24under tension and When the parts are restored to the position shown inFigs. 1 and 3, spring 24 will react on the latch to return the same intothe holding position shown in Fig. l with the shoulder 22 disposedbeneath the keeper.

I claim:

1. In a device of the class described, the combination of a support, achair having a seat and a back rigid th rewith, means adjacent the frontedge of the seat providing a hinge mounting for the chair, a coil springat the mounting tending to raise the rear end of the chair and to swingit forwardly about said hinge mounting, a latch pivoted to the chairadjacent its rear end, a keeper secured to the support and adapted to beengaged by the latch for securing the chair in its normal position, aspring acting on the latch and tending to maintain it in engagement withthe keeper and said latch provided with manually actuated control meanseasily accessible to the person occupying the chair.

2. In a device of the class described, the combination of a supportprovided with a recess, a folding seat provided at its front edge with apivotal mounting, at its rear edge with a supporting foot projectingrigidly therefrom, a ver tically extending latch pivoted to one side ofthe seat and having a pointed end adapted to project into said recessand having its upper end formed into an actuating handle disposedadjacent to and offset to one side of the seat, a keeper for the latchsecured to the upper side of the support at the recess and a springbeneath the plane of the seat, acting on the latch tending to hold thesame in engagement with the keeper.

3. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chair, meansprovid ng a pivotal mounting for the same adjacent its front edge, aspring encircling the pivotal mounting and actmg on the chair andtending to raise and swing the same about said mounting forwardly fromits normal position, a latch means spaced rear- \vardly from saidmounting for securing the chair in its normal position against thetendency of said spring to turn the same forwardly and manually actuatedcontrol means carried by the chair for releasing said latch means.

4. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chairincluding a seat and a back fixed relative to the seat, means providinga pivotal mounting for the chair adjacent the forward edge of the seat,a spring at the forward edge of the chair tending to turn the same aboutsaid pivotal mounting, a latch means adjacent the rear edge of the seatfor holding the chair in its normal position against the action of saidspring and a manually actuated control carried by the seat adjacent theback for releasing the latch means and thus permit the spring to elevatethe chair.

5. In a device of the class described, the combination of a chair, meansproviding a pivotal mounting for the same for causing the chair to turnabout an axis of turn extending laterally across and beneath its frontedge, and said chair movable about said axis of turn at the mountingwhen moved from its normal seated position into elevated position, aspring at the pivotal mounting tending to urge the chair into itselevated position, a latch pivoted to the chair adjacent its rear edgefor securing the chair in its normal seated position, a spring acting onthe latch and tending to maintain it in its operative position, and saidlatch provided with an upwardly extending actuating handle movable inthe act of releasing the latch in the same direction as the chair moveswhen turning into its elevated position about its pivotal mounting.

6. In a device of the class described, the 001m bination of a chair,means providing a pivotal mounting for the same adjacent its front edge,said chair movable about an axis of turn at the mounting when moved fromits normal seated position into an elevated position, a latch pivoted tothe chair adjacent its rear edge for securing the chair in its normalseated position, said latch provided with an upwardly extendingactuating handle movable forwardly in the act of releasing the latch andin the same direction as the chair moves when turning into its elevatedposition about its pivotal mounting whereby the chair be assisted inmoving into its elevated position by a continuation of the pull on thehandle following the releasing of the latch.

ROBERT BIGHAM SMITH.

